On graphic memory as a strategy for design history

Abstract

author(s) keywords The expression ‘memoria grafica’ (literally, ‘graphic memory’) has been used in Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, more and more frequently, in the last years, in order to refer to a line of studies that intends to review the significance and value of visual artifacts, and in particular of printed ephemera, in the establishment of a sense of local identity through design. This paper intends to review the contexts in which this expression has been used within the field of research on visual artifacts in Latin America, and to discuss the relationships between the concept of ‘graphic memory’ and those of ‘print culture,’ ‘visual culture,’ and ‘material culture,’ setting up a proposal of how it can be applied as an approach to the history of graphic design in non-hegemonic countries. visual design, design history methods, Latin America, 21st century graphic memory as a strategy for design history Priscila L. Farias prifarias@usp.br University of Sao Paulo 1 While the sequence of characters is exactly the same for writing memoria grafica in Portuguese, Spanish, and also Italian, there are slight differences in orthography due to the use of diacritics in the first two idioms (acute accents over ‘o’ and the second ‘a’ in Portuguese, and only over the second ‘a’ in Spanish). I will therefore use the expression without diacritics to refer to the use of this expression in both Portuguese and Spanish. Introduction If we look for the expression ‘graphic memory’ in Internet search engines like Google or even Google Scholar, most of the links found will be about computer devices or systems dedicated to the storage of data related to images. The same happens if we use the expression ‘memoire graphique’, in French. If we use the expression ‘memoria grafica,’ however, we will find a significant number of links related to research on graphic design history and photographic archives, most of them in Portuguese or Spanish.1 That reflects a trend, that can be traced back to the early 21st century, of using this expression to describe efforts to rescue or to re-evaluate visual artifacts, in particular printed ephemera, aiming at the recovery or the establishment of a sense of local identity. Such efforts are somehow related to the assumption that those artifacts would be examples of what Assmann (1995) describes as objectified cultural memory, concrete carriers of ‘mnemonic energy’, able to store knowledge from which a group would derive “an awareness of its unity and peculiarity” (Assmann 1995: 130). Although seminal contributions to the studies on the relationship between memory, history and culture date back to the early 20th century (Halbwachs 1925, 1950) and early Blucher Design Proceedings Dezembro de 2014, Numero 5, Volume 1 www.proceedings.blucher.com.br/evento/icdhs2014 Farias, Priscila L.; On graphic memory as a strategy for design history, p. 201-206 . In: Tradition, Transition, Tragectories: major or minor influences? [=ICDHS 2014 9th Conference of the International Committee for Design History and Design Studies]. Sao Paulo: Blucher, 2014. ISSN 2318-6968, DOI 10.5151/despro-icdhs2014-0023 202 theme 2 memory strand 1 design histories: tradition, transgression and transformations 2 3 <http://glamurama.uol.com.br/ronaldo-fraga-confessa-desenho-e-anoto-tudo-por-panico-de-perder-